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Old 12-30-2007, 07:00 AM
 
13 posts, read 85,870 times
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Thanks so much for the advice. I raelly appreciate it...all of it... good and bad. I'm planing to travel over in the summer for a RECE...so will be able to guage a little better about whats HOT and whats NOT.... but please continue with you thoughts and hints as to where to live
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Old 12-30-2007, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Nor Cal
78 posts, read 282,571 times
Reputation: 23
The commute from Tracy to Stockton wouldn't be bad. The traffic goes the opposite direction. I drove through stockton today in the Dameron area and thought of you. It has some quaint shopping and good restraunts near UOP. The shopping at the malls is also fairly good. There are some very ghetto areas. Continue to do your research and choose wisely. I still vote for Lodi/Woodbridge wit ha Stockton commute.
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Old 12-30-2007, 10:40 PM
 
Location: Rockford, IL
71 posts, read 331,865 times
Reputation: 29
I have mixed emotions about Stockton, CA. It is my birthplace, so I have this great love for the city. Most of all my relatives live in Stockton as I now live in Rockford, IL. However, after visting my family each time seems to get worse and worse. Not trying to scare you at all because there are some beutiful parts of the city. My grandparents live in central Stockton on Airport and Oak Streets and that is the part to stay away from. I actually wish they would move out of that area. It's not a place where you want to take a mid day stroll in.

My advice is the same as the majority of the people that posted here. Try looking up north like in Lodi, there are some nice places there. I myself was born in Dameron hospital and went to school in Stockton all the way up to Middle School. I never really had any trouble in school, but then again, that was back in the early 90s. This past summer I want back to visit my old neighborhood, which on DeOvan Ave at I-5 and Plymouth Road, and it seemed to really go down hill.

Like I said, I have love for Stockton because it was where I was born and raised, but as far as raising a family there, please look elsewhere. I don't think I would have such a great education and a great job if I wouldn't have got out when I did. I am just so greatful that during my high schools my dad transferred to Chicago and I spent my high school years in suburbia. I was one of the fortunate ones.

Good luck with your experience and I wish you well.
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Old 01-13-2008, 06:01 PM
 
58 posts, read 80,535 times
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The San Joaquin valley is a toilet. No one in there right mind would choose to live in Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, or Stockton if they had the chioce to move somewhere else. There is thugs everywhere and mexicans all over the place.
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Old 01-20-2008, 08:13 AM
 
1 posts, read 8,186 times
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Default Concerns About Stockton

I was born and raised here, left for college and law school. My wife and I decided, after considering the merits of Sacramento, San Jose and Orange County (where she is from) that Stockton would be a wonderful place to raise a family. We have five children, all but one of which is now an adult and it was the right choice.

My take on this "negativity" is simply this. Having been a prosecutor and still involved in gang suppression, Sacramento and Elk Grove, as well as Lodi, Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy all have equal or more serious crime problems. In fact, if one looks at Elk Grove's statistics, it is yearly becoming more dangerous. Yet people chose to live in these cities. Why? Perhaps they feel that, no matter how bad it may be, the only way to improve one's town is to bring positive influences to it. Stockton is no mecca, and it has a very colorful history, but it is, and will continue to get better. It may do you some good to consider what you, as a potential citizen of this city, could do to help make it better and the future brighter, instead of simply using the city for a place of work and escaping to what you imagine is a better locale.
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Old 01-20-2008, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Rockford, IL
71 posts, read 331,865 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by Resnica View Post
My take on this "negativity" is simply this. Having been a prosecutor and still involved in gang suppression, Sacramento and Elk Grove, as well as Lodi, Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy all have equal or more serious crime problems. In fact, if one looks at Elk Grove's statistics, it is yearly becoming more dangerous. Yet people chose to live in these cities. Why? Perhaps they feel that, no matter how bad it may be, the only way to improve one's town is to bring positive influences to it. Stockton is no mecca, and it has a very colorful history, but it is, and will continue to get better. It may do you some good to consider what you, as a potential citizen of this city, could do to help make it better and the future brighter, instead of simply using the city for a place of work and escaping to what you imagine is a better locale.
There is some truth in what you have said. Just from Reading the Stockton Record, in the comments section of each article, there is a lot of negativity being said about Stockton. It seems to me that most people complain and complain about Stockton's state of condition.

Maybe if some this negativity was transformed into something positive, the communty could do something to make it a better place. It all starts with the community taking action.

Stockton could be a very wonderful city in which people could enjoy and love.
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Old 02-02-2008, 02:47 PM
 
226 posts, read 1,124,471 times
Reputation: 72
Default Other Cities Besides Elk Grove To Consider

If you plan to move to the U.S. for the long run, have a home that you can sell in England, have money saved up, and are willing to commute forty to sixty minutes to work, Elk Grove is not the only option available if you want low crime and good schools.


San Francisco Bay Area-Inner East Bay Region

The following cities require a commute via the Altamont Pass on Interstate 580. Traffic going from the East (Stockton, Central Valley) to the West (Oakland, San Francisco) is heavy during the morning and evening rush hour. If you travel in the opposite direction during rush hour times, you should be fine as most drive toward the mostly urbanized San Francisco and San Jose to work, not toward the Central Valley. I would suggest you attain a second opinion on the Altamont Pass and reverse commuting as I know what I do from daily news reports on traffic and maps.google.com.

San Ramon, CA; Dublin, CA and Pleasanton, CA are suburban communities with excellent schools, affluent families, and low crime. The commute is approximately an hour. Although these communities have been traditionally European-American and still remain so, an influx of other ethnicities are also moving into the area for work at technological companies and in the service industry. The quality of life remains high and the cities are very sought after, thus they are expensive. For a 1300 square feet starter home with 3 or 4 bedrooms, one must spend around $500,000-$600,000 US. There are a few homes in the upper $400K range as well. These are good cities to live in if you want to remain close to the San Francisco Bay Region, where you can find work at many other hospitals in the future. In addition, many prestigious universities are located near Pleasanton, such as Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley, locally known as UC Berkeley. There is also the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station. BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, is an electric rail and subway service that links the Bay Area together. BART has a station in Berkeley, CA located only blocks away from the University of California, Berkeley campus.

Livermore, CA is the eastern neighbor of Pleasanton with an approximately 40-minute commute. The city also has good schools that are generally better than those of the Central Valley. This is with the exception of several schools in its downtown area. It is approximately ten minutes to the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station and also has a high quality of life. The best schools are located in South Livermore, which can be expensive. The area is home to many vineyards and wineries, as well as parks and recreation. The crime here is also low.

The following cities require a commute via Highway 4, which leads directly into Stockton. The schools in these cities are not as highly-performing as those aforementioned, but are better than those of Stockton.

Discovery Bay, CA and Brentwood, CA are communities located 40 minutes from Stockton. These suburbs are located on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and thus some parts of Discovery Bay are on a flood plain. The quality of life is good, allowing for recreational activities such as golf, water sports, and boating. Homes cost half of what you can find in the Pleasanton area. The crime is also lower than that of Stockton, but still check with the local police department or the department's website that can be attain through Google Search. In terms of state-testing, its high schools are comparable to those in the better, nearby cities of Stockton, such as Lathrop, Tracy, Manteca, Lodi, and many others. In terms of safety, the schools are better and safer than those in Stockton. You may still want to get second opinions as many American high schools, even with the better ones, will still have issues with gangs, drugs, and weapons.

Central Valley

Mountain House, CA is an unincorporated community thirty minutes from Stockton. It is a new master-planned community located west of Tracy with views of the Coastal Range and farmland. The community has several parks, a soon-to-be-opened golf course and community college, running trails, and friendly neighbors. The city is also a good option if you plan to eventually work in the Bay Area, as it is home to many Bay Area commuters and transplants. The crime is low and its elementary and middle schools perform very well, comparable to those in Dublin and Livermore. Homes cost half of what you can find in the Pleasanton area. The only issue that you may have is the question of the high school. Until its own high school is built, high school students attend facilities in Tracy, which scores better than those in Stockton, but not as well as those of Pleasanton or some of the ones in Elk Grove. There is a new high school to be built in Tracy that will open in fall of 2009 that will cater to Mountain House and Tracy students, relieving the current overcrowding and the problems caused. They have a community website where you may attain more detailed information via the forum at Mountain House Villages.

Tracy, CA; Lathrop, CA; and Manteca, CA are cities located twenty to thirty minutes to the south of Stockton, with lower crime rates and a suburban feel. There are many new homes being built in this area, and homes cost half of what you can find in the Pleasanton area. The schools, however, are not as good as those found in the Pleasanton area in terms of state testing. In terms of safety, the schools are better and safer than those in Stockton. You may still want to get second opinions as many American high schools, even with the better ones, will still have issues with gangs, drugs, and weapons.

Ripon, CA is a small town located twenty-five minutes from Stockton near Modesto, CA. The crime is low, with homes half the price of those in Pleasanton. The schools, however, rank highly for San Joaquin County. Ripon High School is the highest ranked comprehensive public high school in San Joaquin County.

Lodi, CA is a city twenty minutes north of Stockton. Crime rates are lower than those of Stockton and schools are better for the most part. Its charter schools are the most highly-rated of public schools in the county, but those schools may require an admissions process that screens students. Its comprehensive public schools do not perform as well as Pleasanton schools, though there are a few exceptions. Homes cost half as much as those in the Bay Area.

For further research, use the links below:

Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Wikipedia can give you general information about a city of your choice by searching the city's name, followed by a comma, and it's state abbreviation. You may also use Google Search, but be careful of false, advertisement sites.

DataQuest (CA Dept of Education) - This site at the California Department of Education allows one to search for the state testing performance of each public school in the state, past and present. Be sure to choose API under subject to view school ratings from one to ten and scores out of one-thousand points.

GreatSchools.net - This site allows you search for the performance of every school in the nation and school reviews made by students, parents, and school staff. This website rates schools more strictly than that of the state of California, in my opinion.

REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale and ZipRealty Real Estate -- Homes for sale and local real estate agents - These sites allow you to search for homes on the market. ZipRealty.com requires website registration.

http://www.antennasearch.com/ - This site allows you to search for your home's proximity to potentially dangerous broadcast towers and discreet cellular towers.

http://www.mhvillages.com/ - This site allows you access the community-run website of Mountain House. Registration is required in order to add posts.

http://www.zillow.com/ - This site allows the public to search the home values of homes in the United States.

http://maps.google.com/ and http://maps.live.com/ - These sites allow you to search for the location of a home, traffic on some major nearby highways, and even views of its rooftop, if available for that area. Maps.live.com even allows for a bird’s eye view of a home at a 45-degree angle from the sky. This allows the public to see the exteriors of homes and the surrounding neighborhood somewhat similar to as if you were there in person. However, the availability of photographed areas is limited. Also, please note that areas may look better than they are in person with these maps. Bird eye’s view and satellite images may be outdated by a year or so.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3756665n&channel=/sections/60minutes/videoplayer3415.shtml - A CBS News, "60-Minutes" video segment about Stockton, the sub-prime loan crisis, and its results. The video is approximately 15-16 minutes long and under the title "House of Cards".


More tips:

-When searching for a home for your family, keep in mind that schools usually have boundaries to serve a certain part of a city. Some schools require that students be interviewed, and others may allow open enrollment. Admissions to desired schools for the 2009-2010 school year may start as early as winter or spring of the previous school year. Always ask the school district for the schools zoned to your home and for attendance boundary maps, if they have them, making sure that your potential home is located within the boundaries of the desired school. Sometimes, schools may be over-enrolled and your children may not be able to attend the school of your choice, so ALWAYS ask the school district. Also, homes can cost more and hold their market value better in neighborhoods with good schools.

-When buying a newly constructed home, beware of a legal clause called “Binding Arbitration”. By signing a contract that has this clause, you forfeit your rights to a court trial in the case that construction defects arise. Instead, you will have to settle your disputes with the homebuilder via a privately hired arbitrator who can be hired by the company. The results of an arbitration hearing are NOT disclosed to the public and can be tipped in the builder’s favor. Have an expert, real estate agent or attorney, to look over the contract with you and to strike off parts of the contract that endanger your rights as a consumer. Also, research a builder's credibility before you buy from them and hire your own home inspector to inspect the construction of your home at every stage. Buying a home is a large investment that should not involve cutting corners.

-Always check to see if a home is located in a natural disaster zone. Flood plains, earthquake fault lines, soil liquefaction, landslides, and fire danger zones are the common examples.

-Though this is somewhat controversial in the U.S., Electromagnetic fields from high-tension power lines, broadcast towers, and discreet cellular towers are commonly mixed into residential developments in the U.S. as they are not deemed dangerous by the government unless at very close distances. Try to select homes or home sites far away from such structures, at least several hundreds of yards, as the long-term effects on human health are not yet known in the U.S. I was unfortunate enough to live in such a neighborhood where there are two to three cellular towers built-in and disguised as unusually tall light poles in the park near my home.

-Currently, home and real estate prices are falling in the U.S. The U.S. “housing bubble” has burst due in part to higher interest rates and the sub-prime loan crisis, resulting in foreclosures nationwide. It has been said that San Joaquin County and Stockton has been hit hard by the recent wave of foreclosures due in part to the sub-prime loan crisis. From what I see on the internet, home prices in the San Joaquin County have fallen to levels that are comparable to prices in 2003. You can find many bargains for homes in the Central Valley, but it is not known how much further prices will decrease.

-Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Livermore are well-established cities with employment centers, as in business parks; retail, schools that for the most part possess a good and long reputation, historically low crime rates, and possess a location that is convenient to San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. The cities themselves have a share of the high-tech companies that situate their campuses in the Bay Area, besides the Silicon Valley. In the long run, these cities are better choices to purchase a home in as they are much more developed and prices are, in my opinion, not expected to drop as low as communities in the Central Valley, where high tech employment is not as widespread and more or less possesses inconvenience to the inner Bay Area as a result of traffic and distance.
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Old 02-03-2008, 01:08 PM
 
13 posts, read 85,870 times
Reputation: 12
Thank you so much.. I raelly appreciate the time and trouble you have gone to ...
I am going to spend some time and have a good look through all the info that you have shared with me.

As you have expressed the idea of commuting seems to be the best option and I've got loads of stuff to look into.I really don't mind the idae of a commute, in fact it quite appeals. At the moment I don't have a huge amount of choice as to where I live as my contract is with the hospital, but in the future I will be able to chose.

Thanks again

Karen
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Old 02-10-2008, 07:45 AM
 
22 posts, read 66,393 times
Reputation: 22
Most areas in Stockton are bad - thuggish looking Mexicans in every other car, loud music from cars, and noisy neighborhoods. It's not a place any White person would voluntarily live, they'd wanna move somewhere else.

Stockton also has an aura. This is the hardest to describe because it's more of a feeling than anything else. I'm not seeing it or hearing it, but it's around me, as if I'm somehow wearing the feeling. It also tends to hang around, getting bigger. In that sense, Stockton is a living, breathing experience, different from any other place on earth.

Stockton is as hard to rationalize as it is to explain a sunset. You'd have to experience it for yourself.
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Old 02-14-2008, 04:11 PM
 
13 posts, read 85,870 times
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You speak as though you have lived there, or are living there now..
Is it really that bad, I have received some positive comments about the city. I only plan to work ther, I planning on living north of the city up towards Sacremento.
I do apprecitae your comments though, so thank you
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